Bass, Berry & Sims is pleased to announce the release of the newest edition of its Healthcare Fraud & Abuse Annual Review examining important healthcare fraud developments in 2020. Compiled by the firm’s Healthcare Fraud Task Force, the Review provides an in-depth and comprehensive analysis of the past year’s court decisions involving the False
Qui Tam Complaint Against Pharmacy Dismissed for Lack of Particularity
On May 6, the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina entered final judgment dismissing with prejudice a relator’s qui tam False Claims Act (FCA) suit against the defendant wholesale pharmacy. The relator, a former pharmacist who worked for the defendant, alleged that the defendant submitted false claims to government healthcare programs in connection with prescription medications dispensed for use at nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The relator alleged a scheme in which the defendant manually filled “thousands” of prescriptions with less-expensive generic medications while billing for more-expensive alternative medications stocked in its automated dispensing system.
A qui tam complaint containing similar allegations filed against Omnicare Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey resulted in an $8 million settlement in 2017. In this lawsuit, however, the defendant, represented by Bass, Berry & Sims and others, obtained full dismissal with prejudice of the relator’s FCA and retaliation claims.Continue Reading Qui Tam Complaint Against Pharmacy Dismissed for Lack of Particularity
Just Released – Healthcare Fraud & Abuse Annual Review from Bass, Berry & Sims
Bass, Berry & Sims is pleased to announce the release of the 2019 edition of its Healthcare Fraud & Abuse Annual Review. Compiled by the firm’s Healthcare Fraud Task Force, the Review is an in-depth and comprehensive analysis of enforcement settlements, court decisions, and recent developments affecting the healthcare industry.
The Review details
Private Equity Firm Settles FCA Case
In two prior posts [Government Files Amended FCA Complaint Against Private Equity Firm and its Portfolio Company and DOJ Intervention in Healthcare Fraud Case Highlights Potential Risks for Private Equity Firms], we wrote about the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) decision to intervene in a False Claims Act (FCA) case against a compounding pharmacy and its private equity backer.
The case, Medrano v. Diabetic Care Rx, LLC, was the first time we had seen the DOJ name a private equity firm in a FCA case involving allegations of wrongdoing by one of its portfolio companies, and we noted that this should be a wake-up call to private equity firms who are actively engaged in the management and control of healthcare companies in which they invest.
The alarm rang once again in September 2019, as the DOJ announced that it reached a $21.36 million settlement with Patient Care America (PCA), the compounding pharmacy at issue in the case, two of the company’s executives and, most notably, the private equity firm Riordan, Lewis & Haden Inc. (RLH) that managed PCA on behalf of its investors. The settlement was reached on ability to pay grounds.Continue Reading Private Equity Firm Settles FCA Case
Bass, Berry & Sims Releases Healthcare Fraud and Abuse Review
Bass, Berry & Sims is pleased to announce the release of its seventh annual Healthcare Fraud and Abuse Review. The Review, compiled by the firm’s Healthcare Fraud Task Force, is an in-depth and comprehensive review of enforcement settlements, court decisions and developments affecting the healthcare industry.
The Review is intended to assist healthcare
DOJ Moves to Dismiss 11 Patient Assistance Services FCA Cases
In a remarkable move, the Department of Justice (DOJ) recently sought dismissal of 11 False Claims Act (FCA) cases, each of which assert that patient assistance services supplied by pharmaceutical manufacturers constitute unlawful kickbacks. The 11 complaints were brought against various pharmaceutical companies by what DOJ described as “shell companies” backed by the National Healthcare Analysis Group, a company formed for the purpose of filing FCA cases. In seeking dismissal, DOJ argued that the suits ran counter to government interests and wasted “scarce government resources.”
According to the DOJ, the 11 lawsuits involved “essentially the same theories of FCA liability” concerning “white coat marketing,” free “nurse services,” and “reimbursement support services.” Specifically, in a motion to dismiss filed on December 17, 2018, in the Eastern District of Texas, DOJ seemingly defended these manufacturer programs noting the government’s “strong interest” in ensuring that “patients have access to basic product support related to their medication, such as access to a toll-free patient-assistance line or instructions on how to properly inject or store their medication.” The government further argued that the allegations “conflict with important policy and enforcement prerogatives” of federal healthcare programs, and asserted that the relators “should not be permitted to indiscriminately advance claims…against an entire industry that would undermine common industry practices the federal government has determined are, in this particular case, appropriate and beneficial to federal healthcare programs and their beneficiaries.”Continue Reading DOJ Moves to Dismiss 11 Patient Assistance Services FCA Cases
DOJ Intervention in Healthcare Fraud Case Highlights Potential Risks for Private Equity Firms
The Department of Justice’s recent decision to intervene in a False Claims Act case against not only a compounding pharmacy but also the private equity firm that owns a controlling stake in it, underscores the potential risks private equity firms face when operating in the highly regulated healthcare space. On February 16, 2018, the United States filed a complaint in intervention in Medrano v. Diabetic Care Rx, LLC, Case No. 15-62617-CIV-BLOOM, alleging the compounding pharmacy, Patient Care America (“PCA”), paid illegal kickbacks to marketing firms who targeted military members and their families for prescriptions for compounded drugs the pharmacy then created not to meet individual patient needs, but rather to maximize reimbursement from Tricare, the federal military health care program. In a somewhat unique move, the government also named as a defendant the private equity company Riordan, Lewis & Haden Inc. (“RLH”), which manages and controls PCA through a general partner.
Continue Reading DOJ Intervention in Healthcare Fraud Case Highlights Potential Risks for Private Equity Firms
FCA Issues to Watch: Pharmaceutical and Device Developments
The government’s FCA enforcement efforts have continued to focus on key areas concerning the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. In fact, drug and device manufacturers accounted for nearly half of the enforcement recoveries from the healthcare industry last year. Manufacturers also saw enforcement agencies focus on product promotion and speaker program practices, as well as alleged violations of Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP).
Continue Reading FCA Issues to Watch: Pharmaceutical and Device Developments
Pharma Companies Pay $784.6 Million to Settle FCA Claims
On April 27, 2016, DOJ announced that Pfizer and its subsidiary Wyeth, LLC, agreed to pay $784.6 million to resolve allegations that Wyeth failed to disclose to federal and state healthcare programs discounts provided to hospitals for Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPIs), as required by its Medicaid Drug Rebate Agreement. DOJ alleged that this lack of disclosure led to states overpaying millions of dollars in reimbursements for PPIs.
Under Medicaid’s Drug Rebate Program, drug manufacturers must enter into a Medicaid Drug Rebate Agreement with HHS for their prescription drugs to be reimbursed by Medicaid. These agreements require manufacturers to pay rebates for drugs purchased by Medicaid. The amounts of the rebates are based on the Average Manufacturer Price, or the average price paid by wholesalers, and the Best Price, or the lowest price paid by any purchaser. These prices must be reported to CMS on a quarterly basis.Continue Reading Pharma Companies Pay $784.6 Million to Settle FCA Claims